SEPTEMBER 29, 2008 Innovation Awards
The 2008 Technology Innovation Awards
This year's winners include: an IV alternative, a better way to make solar panels, a cheap, fuel-efficient car and a better way to see in the darkBy MICHAEL TOTTY
ENERGY
Applied Materials Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., was selected in the energy category for its SunFab production line, which can manufacture extremely large solar-power panels using thin-film photovoltaic material. By turning out solar panels more quickly and cheaply than traditional production methods, the SunFab equipment promises to drive down the cost of solar power so that it's more competitive with electricity from traditional sources.
To date, Applied Materials has delivered four of the SunFab lines to solar-panel makers, including a 100-acre plant in China that, when it's up to full production, will be capable of turning out enough panels each year to generate one gigawatt of electricity.
Although the panels themselves are less efficient than traditional solar arrays, the SunFab technology "is really making a massive impact because suddenly people can buy turn-key photovoltaic production lines," says Peter Terwiesch, chief technology officer of ABB Ltd. and a member of the judging panel. "That's attracting a lot of new entrants."
Dus AMAT kan niet zonder de SOLAR techniek van ASMI verder ....
Groeten en Sterkte.